Kiersten Foster singled to left to score Elicia D’Orozio in the bottom of the seventh inning as Clermont East Ridge (13-1 overall, 6-0 district), No. 5 in the Sentinel Super Six, upset West Orange (15-2, 5-1) 6-5 Thursday night in a Class 6A, District 5 softball game. The victory moves East Ridge into first place with its final district game tonight at home against Wekiva. East Ridge looked as if it had won the game in the bottom of the sixth when Amanda Thomas tripled down the right field line to score Megan Borak and give the Knights a 5-4 lead.

TALLAHASSEE — The strands of gray hair peeking from under the bottom of Mike Martin's garnet- and gold-colored hat suggest a man of wise and rather tenured age. His appearance lends the young-at-heart, 67-year-old baseball coach to often poke fun at himself with tongue-in-cheek refrains about some of the decisions he may, or almost may, make in his more veteran days. Friday night, the Mike Martin comedy hour was in full swing. "To think of a safety squeeze had to be a senior moment," the Florida State coach said, causing reporters to laugh at his initial idea of having one of his best hitters lay down a bunt, instead of swinging away.

The Orlando SunRays rallied to score three runs in the ninth inning to prevent a loss against the Birmingham Barons on Wednesday night, but they didn't get a victory out of it.The game was called after nine innings when heavy rains swept through Hoover Metropolitan Stadium with the score tied, 4-4. The game will not be made up, though players' stats will count.Orlando (30-38) will play a doubleheader against Birmingham today at 7:05 p.m. to make up a game that was rained out in Orlando last month.

Kiersten Foster singled to left to score Elicia D’Orozio in the bottom of the seventh inning as Clermont East Ridge (13-1 overall, 6-0 district), No. 5 in the Sentinel Super Six, upset West Orange (15-2, 5-1) 6-5 Thursday night in a Class 6A, District 5 softball game. The victory moves East Ridge into first place with its final district game tonight at home against Wekiva. East Ridge looked as if it had won the game in the bottom of the sixth when Amanda Thomas tripled down the right field line to score Megan Borak and give the Knights a 5-4 lead.

Three UCF pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout of Florida International as the Golden Knights won their first game Sunday at Jay Bergman Field, 9-0. UCF (1-1) ended the Golden Panthers' season-opening three-game winning streak, scoring five runs in the first inning to split the series before a crowd of 752. Jason Arnold (1-0) went 52/3 innings to earn the victory. The Palm Bay High graduate allowed three hits, walked four and struck out eight. Von Stertzbach and Abe Gonzalez preserved UCF's shutout in relief.

The Columbus Astros, made up mostly of former Osceola Astros from the Florida State League, dealt the Orlando Twins a 5-3 loss Saturday night, hampering the Twins' first-half title hopes in the Southern League East.A promotion-night crowd of 3,660 watched the game at Tinker Field.David Rohde's RBI single in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie and enabled the Astros to topple the Twins for the fourth time in five games this season. Richard Johnson's ninth-inning bunt chased home Norm Brock with an insurance run.''Look around the locker room,'' Brock said.

The Florida State Seminoles did in the NCAA South II Region Tournament what they almost always do when Mike Loynd pitches -- win.Loynd (18-1) allowed only five hits as No. 1-ranked FSU handed North Carolina State a 10-6 setback in the first round of the double-elimination tournament at Seminole Stadium before 3,709 fans.Florida State (55-11) plays at 7 p.m. today against Texas A&M, a 10-2 winner over South Florida in the opener. Darryl Fry (11-4) will start for Texas A&M against Chris Pollack (9-3)

Matt Connolly pitched a complete-game six-hitter as the Orlando Cubs defeated the Birmingham Barons, 7-3, in a Southern League game Monday night.The Barons, who were hurt by four errors, lost their eighth game in a row. They are 0-5 in the second half.Connolly struck out four and walked one.Harold Williams paced the O-Cubs' attack with 3 hits, 2 runs scored and 1 RBI.Orlando took a 1-0 lead on the first when Bobby Morris reached on a bunt single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Orie.

BOBBY BONILLA hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot in the 10th off Curtis Leskanic, to rally visiting Florida past Colorado on Monday night.Bonilla, who had three hits and two RBIs, sent a 3-2 fastball from Leskanic (1-3) into the right-field stands, breaking a 4-4 tie.Braves 6, Diamondbacks 5KEITH LOCKHART'S RBI single with one out in the ninth inning lifted Atlanta to a victory over host Arizona.The Braves blew a 5-3 lead in the eighth before beating Arizona for the fourth straight time.

TALLAHASSEE -- Miami and Florida State entered Friday night's clash ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25. But for at least one inning, the Hurricanes showed that the gap between Nos. 1 and 2 might be wider than previously thought. Trailing 4-0 in the top of the sixth, Miami erupted for 10 runs -- capitalizing on three Seminoles errors -- en route to an 11-4 victory in the first of a three-game set. "It's a big win for us," Miami Coach Jim Morris said. "Once you come back and win a few games like that, you believe you can come back.

TALLAHASSEE -- Miami and Florida State entered Friday night's clash ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25. But for at least one inning, the Hurricanes showed that the gap between Nos. 1 and 2 might be wider than previously thought. Trailing 4-0 in the top of the sixth, Miami erupted for 10 runs -- capitalizing on three Seminoles errors -- en route to an 11-4 victory in the first of a three-game set. "It's a big win for us," Miami Coach Jim Morris said. "Once you come back and win a few games like that, you believe you can come back.

PORT ORANGE -- Two strikeouts in her first two at-bats and an 0-2 count with a runner in scoring position: Spruce Creek's Rochelle Keller had everything just where she wanted it in Friday's Class 6A, Region 1 semifinal. Keller's one-out single in the sixth was all the offense the Hawks needed for a 1-0 victory against Lake Mary. Kelsi Dunne struck out 14 and gave up one hit as the Hawks (27-1) not only earned a berth in Tuesday's regional championship game against Winter Springs, but they avoided any possible repeat of last year's 17-inning marathon that saw Dunne set a state record with 38 strikeouts against the Rams.

DELTONA -- Pine Ridge senior Greg Belden tossed a three-hit, complete-game shutout Tuesday to lead the Panthers to a 3-0 home victory against crosstown rival Deltona. Pine Ridge (13-6) used its trademark small-ball style to take the lead in the second inning. Devin De La Rosa walked on four pitches from Deltona starting pitcher Brian Sweat and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Joey Munoz. The Panthers added two runs in the fifth inning when Munoz singled again to score Nick Beecher, and Belden followed with a two-out RBI single to left field.

Richie DeJesus hit a home run in the second inning and added an RBI single in the third to lead Boynton Beach to a 7-2 victory against Tallmadge, Ohio, in pool play at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa. "It was right down the middle," DeJesus said of the fastball he sent some 230 feet over the center field wall in the second. Boynton Beach improved to 2-0 and advanced to the U.S. semifinals along with Saugus, Mass., a 2-1 winner against Richland, Wash. Those two teams play tonight for first place in Pool A. Tallmadge -- the only U.S. team to reach the World Series without a loss -- and Richland were eliminated with their second losses.

KISSIMMEE -- Kissimmee extended its stay in Little League Baseball's 41st Senior World Series with Wednesday's 5-4 extra-inning win over Whalley, British Columbia, at Osceola County Stadium. Chad Dekle's two-out RBI single capped the 10-inning four-hour seesaw. Hits by teammates Miguel Acevedo and Austin Hubbard put Dekle in position to play hero. And he did. "I kept thinking fastball, fastball, fastball, and he came through with a fastball on the outside part of the plate," Dekle said.

Three UCF pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout of Florida International as the Golden Knights won their first game Sunday at Jay Bergman Field, 9-0. UCF (1-1) ended the Golden Panthers' season-opening three-game winning streak, scoring five runs in the first inning to split the series before a crowd of 752. Jason Arnold (1-0) went 52/3 innings to earn the victory. The Palm Bay High graduate allowed three hits, walked four and struck out eight. Von Stertzbach and Abe Gonzalez preserved UCF's shutout in relief.

DELTONA -- Pine Ridge senior Greg Belden tossed a three-hit, complete-game shutout Tuesday to lead the Panthers to a 3-0 home victory against crosstown rival Deltona. Pine Ridge (13-6) used its trademark small-ball style to take the lead in the second inning. Devin De La Rosa walked on four pitches from Deltona starting pitcher Brian Sweat and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Joey Munoz. The Panthers added two runs in the fifth inning when Munoz singled again to score Nick Beecher, and Belden followed with a two-out RBI single to left field.

Bob Kiser of St. Cloud High School smashed a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning to help power the North Florida High School All-Stars to an 11-4 victory over the South before a crowd of 1,138 Friday night at Head Field.Kiser's home run, his 40th in four years, erased a 3-2 deficit and gave the North a 4-3 lead.A run-scoring single by Chris Cassels of Gonzalez Tate pushed the North's lead to 5-3.The North added another run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by John Marc Tamayo of Tampa Jesuit and the North led, 6-3.South pitcher Rich DePastino of Sarasota Riverview walked three consecutive batters in the top of the eighth.

MIKE BORDICK singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday night to give host Baltimore a win before the largest crowd to see a regular-season game at Camden Yards.Will Clark drew a two-out walk from Steve Montgomery (0-2) in the 10th before Jeff Reboulet singled. Bordick then lined a single to right, easily scoring Clark with the winning run.- INDIANS 8, CUBS 7ROBERTO ALOMAR went from home to third without hitting the ball out of the infield in the 11th inning and scored on Wil Cordero's one-out single to lift host Cleveland.

DELTONA - Deltona Coach Scott Smith wants his softball team to sharpen its skills for the postseason. The Wolves took a big step on Thursday. Sarah Neulieb had two RBIs to highlight a five-run first inning, and Laurie Hall did the rest as Deltona stopped visiting Spruce Creek, 6-3, in a high school girls softball game. ``We're trying to get ready for playoff time,'' said Smith, whose team improved to 12-4. ``This is the crunch time. We're working hard.'' That work ethic has paid off in recent years.